The United State is said to be ready to sell high-tech aircraft to Nigeria for its campaign against Boko Haram Islamic extremists.

The Congress according to thewillnigeria.com is expected to receive formal notification setting in motion a deal with Nigeria which the Obama administration had planned to approve at the very end of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The arrangement will call for Nigeria to purchase up to 12 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano aircraft with sophisticated targeting gear for nearly $600 million, one of the officials said.


The officials were not authorized to discuss the terms of the sale publicly and requested anonymity to speak about internal diplomatic conversations.

Though President Donald Trump has made clear his intention to approve the sale of the aircraft, the National Security Council is still working on the issue.

Military sales to several other countries are also expected to be approved but are caught up in an ongoing White House review.

Nigeria has been trying to buy the aircraft since 2015.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said last week that he supported the A-29 deal to Nigeria as well as the sale of U.S.-made fighter jets to Bahrain that had been stripped of human rights caveats imposed by the Obama administration. Under Obama, the U.S. said Bahrain failed to make promised political and human rights reforms after its Sunni-ruled government crushed Arab Spring protests five years ago.

“We need to deal with human rights issues, but not on weapons sales,” Corker said.